Chicken for a Hundred

Let’s learn how to cook enough chicken for a large group or party. Ok, it is not Cooking For Two but still useful and you can do this at home.

Editor’s Note: Originally Published June 12, 2011. Updated with updated text, added material, and re-edited photos.

This is something you can do, and it wasn’t that hard. We were hosting a large retirement party for several family friends. It was a potluck type affair, but we felt we should provide a “main course” of meat.

So my “what I wanted” list: 1) Not to make anyone sick. Any “mass cooking” can easily lead to food poisoning. Well, not at my house! 2) Not too much work. There was a lot of other things that needed attention also. 3) Had to have good taste and be able to be kept warm.

After flirting with several plans that involved: 1) Grilling only – maybe not safe enough to get the right temp on all the chicken without a lot of continuous attention. 2) Oven baking the day ahead and then crisp up on the grill the next day. This was too fussy but did work out well in trial runs. Would work well for 20 to 30 but not 100. The grilling took too much direct time. 3) But finally, the oven won the day. Easy to control the outcome, being sure to get to a safe internal temperature and staying moist.

My RatingI was quite happy with the results. Tasty and moist.

Pro Tips: Recipe Notes for Chicken for a Hundred

The Plan: 1) Start with 45 to 50 pounds of chicken. Half split breast and half drumsticks. 2) Trim the breast and cut into hand eating friendly sizes (thirds or quarters). 3) Spice with salt, pepper, garlic powder and a little cayenne. 4) Oven bake the breast pieces to 165 and the drummies to 180. 5) Keep warm in a large roster. You will need a rack in the bottom, or the draining moisture will pool with the bottom layer will be affected.

I had tried the drumsticks at 165-170, and the connective tissue was still intact, and they were not tender. 180 gives good results. The chicken breasts are good at 165.

It took about 1/2 hour trim and cut the chicken. The breast had to have the rib section cut off, any visible fat removed and then cut into 3-4 pieces each depending on the size.

I did about 50 pounds that makes about 150 pieces total pieces. I did this earlier in the day so it would be ready when needed.

I cooked on racks to get as much crispness as possible. I did two pans at a time in the convection oven and one at a time in the regular oven.

I consider racks almost required for this.

Safety Notes:

Once cooked, the chicken needs to be kept above 140 degrees or below 40 degrees or you are risking food poisoning.

What you need is a “roaster.”

Think of a roaster as a cross between a countertop oven and crockpot. Roasters are first much bigger than the crockpot. Most are 16 to 24 quarts, so they hold masses of food. The traditional picture of roasters always has a huge turkey in them cooked to perfection.

It is the size that makes this appliance both very useful when you need the size and why you don’t see them much anymore since most people don’t need that size. Most but not all, roasters go from 150 to 400 plus. Some will have even wider range.

Second and most important here, the temperature control is totally different. In a crockpot, you have low and high. The low usually aiming for 205-210 (just under boiling) and gets there in 5-8 hours. High is the same temperature but faster so more aggressive. Plus some crock pots run hotter than that. Both of those settings would continue cooking the chicken. Not what we want.

Some crockpots have a “keep warm” setting that might do, but the exact temperature varies by manufacturer. Some will be 145-165 (good kind of) Some will be 185 (bad for us here). Cooking will continue in the chicken if above 155.

We want to keep the chicken in “the safety zone” which is above 140 for safety. Also, you want to serve hot chicken. But you don’t want it to continue to cook. So 150 is a great setting for our needs, and the chicken can stay there for hours safely and not continue to cook.

Most roasters cost $25-$50 and are quite useful if you have parties. Many use them as an oven during the summer due to the low energy consumption. Some newer roasters don’t go under 200 degrees so check out the product closely before you buy.

Other Recipes You Can Do For Large Groups

Pat dry the chicken. Trim the breast of rib section and then cut into 3-4 pieces each. Check the drumsticks for any loose bone and extra skin. We do not wash chicken anymore. See Chicken… To Rinse or Not To Rinse?

You can now cover and refrigerate or proceed to cook.

Preheat ovens to 425. Use convection if you have it but use 425 either way. It will be a little faster with convection. Prep cooking pans. Line the pans with foil. Use a rack if you have them and spray heavy with PAM.

Mix seasoning and place in shaker with large holes. I’m not hand sprinkling 150 pieces of chicken.

Place in 425-degree oven. I put two trays in the convection oven and one try in the non-convection oven. Both set at 425. Check the temp at 30 minutes. Aim for 165 on the biggest breast pieces and 180 plus on the drumsticks. Most of the time this was 35 minutes.

If using two trays in an oven, at about 20 minutes into cooking, rotate the trays top to bottom and 180 degrees.

Place in a large roster preheated to 150 with a rack in the bottom.

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Ingredients

Instructions

Pat dry the chicken. Trim the breast of rib section and then cut into 3-4 pieces each. Check the drumsticks for any loose bone and extra skin.

You can now cover and refrigerate or proceed to cook.

Preheat ovens to 425. Use convection if you have it but use 425 either way. It will be a little faster with convection.

Prep cooking pans. Line the pans with foil. Use a rack if you have them and spray heavy with PAM.

Mix seasoning of your choice and place in shaker with large holes. I suggest a ratio of kosher salt to pepper to granular garlic powder of 7:2:2. A touch of cayenne pepper is nice for adults.

Pat dry. Place on prepared pans and sprinkle seasoning on all sides.

Place in 425-degree oven. I put two trays in the convection oven and one try in the non-convection oven. Both set at 425. Check temp at 30 minutes. Aim for 165 on the biggest breast pieces and 180 plus on the drumsticks. Most of the time this was 35 minutes.

If using two trays in an oven, at about 20 minutes into cooking, rotate the trays top to bottom and 180 degrees.

Place in a large roster preheated to 150 with a rack in the bottom.

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Nutrition Facts

Chicken for a Hundred

Amount Per Serving

Calories 105Calories from Fat 45

% Daily Value*

Fat 5g8%

Saturated Fat 1g5%

Polyunsaturated Fat 1g

Monounsaturated Fat 2g

Cholesterol 44mg15%

Sodium 1402mg58%

Potassium 111mg3%

Protein 13g26%

Vitamin A 50IU1%

Calcium 10mg1%

Iron 0.7mg4%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Have a question or something not clear? Ask in the comments.

If you like this recipe or find it useful, the pleasure of a nice 4 or 5 rating would be greatly appreciated.

Nutrition is for one serving. Number of servings is stated above and is my estimate of normal serving size for this recipe.

All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.

Comments

My roaster is 18 qt. and was heaping full but the cover still fit. I already had it and 150 pieces (right at 50 pounds) just fit.

My plan for any overflow was a large tray in the oven piled high and sealed with foil at 150 degrees that I could refill the roaster from a few times. You don’t want to be cooking while the party is going on. People hang around the kitchen too much. But a few minutes to refill things will work.

For a 22 qt, it is 20% bigger so 180 should fit by that calculation but I wouldn’t trust that a lot. Have a backup plan.

If you do this, please report back your experience for others to see and help them plan. Also, other readers, a few reports for others please.

Dan

Mary

June 30, 2019 at 9:10 am

Can I cook breasts and legs in the roaster at the same time? Or, should I cook them separately and move them to the cooker at 150 when they are done cooking?

Hi Mary, Welcome to the blog. This recipe is for cooking the chicken in the oven first and then keeping it in the “safe zone” for serving with the roaster (over 140 degrees). I would not suggest trying to cook the raw chicken in the roaster with this recipe. Hope that helps. Dan

Think of a roaster as a cross between a countertop oven and crockpot. Roasters are first much bigger than the crockpot. Most are 16 to 24 quarts so they hold masses of food. The traditional picture of roasters always has a huge turkey in them cooked to perfection. It is the size that makes this appliance both very useful when you need the size and why you don’t see them much anymore since most people don’t need that size.

Second and most important here, the temperature control is totally different. In a crockpot, you have low and high. Both low and high usually aiming for 205-210 (just under boiling) and some run hotter than that. Both of those settings would continue cooking the chicken. Not what we want. Most but not all, roasters go from 150 to 400 plus. Some will have even wider range.

Some crockpots have a “keep warm” setting that might do but the exact temperature varies by manufacturer. Some will be 145-165 (good) Some will be 185 (bad for us here).

We want to keep the chicken in “the safety zone” which is above 140 for safety. Also, you want to serve hot chicken. But you don’t want it to continue to cook. So 150 is a great setting for our needs and the chicken can stay there for hours safely and not continue to cook.

Most roasters cost $25-$50 and are quite useful if you have parties. Many use them as an oven during the summer due to the low energy consumption. Some newer roasters don’t go under 200 degrees so check out the product closely before you buy.

Arlene D

April 20, 2017 at 10:40 am

This has been my go-to recipe for chicken legs for a while now. Turns out great every time because of the cooking technique. Thank you for sharing!

Thanks for the note and good luck with the mass cooking. I know it is odd for the “cooking for two” web site but useful.

DrDan

ShortieMarie

July 10, 2016 at 3:32 pm

I’m going to be cooking chicken legs for about 100 in a couple weeks and really liked your method. I wondered how many baking batches did you have to cook for so many? How many legs were you able to fit on a pan, I think i’m cooking about 200 legs.

That was five yrs ago, but my memory is still good on this one. About 15 pieces of either the legs or breast chunks per tray. With the legs, biggest legs in the corners and smallest in the center. The outside ones always with the thick part towards the edge of the tray. If you have good convection then you can do two trays at a time and rotate them half way through (180 degrees and top to bottom). No need to flip the individual pieces if using the rack. I had two ovens, one regular and one convection. I had six trays (cheap at the restaurant supply) and racks. So three sets of three and one single tray. For 200 pieces you will need about 65-70 pounds (about 3 legs per pound I think). We had about 110 people and maybe 10 pieces left. There was much more to eat then the chicken.

I believe as long as you want but I’m not a food safety expert and the texture may suffer if prolonged. I used 150 to keep the temp above 140 at all times. DrDan

Ann

October 22, 2015 at 7:42 pm

Thanks for sharing this! Doing this for a large group in two days. In another post you said that you left them in the roaster over night. In the fridge? Were they still crisp? Any suggestions doing this with a roaster with no rack :(

Not in the roaster. I cleaned and cut up the raw chicken the day before and refrigerated overnight until cooking the next day. They need to be cooked just before serving.

The rack keep the bottom layer from being in liquid. If I had no rack, I would crumple up a bunch of aluminum foil into small balls to hold up the chicken but have an area to drain fluids.

Hope those things held

DrDan

Carolyn

September 14, 2013 at 11:59 pm

Just watched a video that showed how you spread raw chicken germs all over your work area and yourself when you wash chicken…it was really yucky. You don’t need to wash chicken, there is no “bone dust” to wash off like you have with bone in pork chops and T-bone steaks…and it’ll save you a lot of time too.

Google “Don’t wash your chicken” – Drexel University for the video…I saw it on NBC News. I’ve spent the last couple of hours enjoying and copying your recipes. I’m pretty sure your pineapple/mango salsa will become a staple in my kitchen and one of the Mac and Cheese recipes a favorite dish at my church’s Wednesday night suppers…I really appreciate all the work you put into perfecting the recipes!

Carolyn

September 15, 2013 at 12:22 am

Oh! And I am really excited about your white chicken chili recipe!

Dan Mikesell

September 15, 2013 at 9:21 am

Thanks for all the comments… The FDA has said for years that it was not a good idea. We all need to be careful about food safety and splatter is one of those things. .

My wife loves the pineapple/mango salsa so I do it frequently.

The mac and cheese recipes are a little funny. I never liked mac and cheese until a few years ago. Too much “blue box” I think. The Roadhouse mac and cheese is excellent and considered to be one of the top comfort foods but I’m more proud of the uncooked crock pot one which is all mine…

I use the “Ultra Simple” white chili for all the pass the dish events. I now take copies of the recipe with me since I’m always asked.

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